Harveys Lake residents mull secession to Wyoming County

HARVEYS LAKE – A movement under foot by some Harveys Lake residents to secede from Luzerne County and join neighboring Wyoming County would be a trailblazing moment in the state.

But some officials say the idea, spurred by the recent reassessment, may make little to no difference on their property taxes.

That isn’t deterring Harveys Lake Councilman Ed Kelly, who is among those spearheading the effort. He said the movement is a way to send a message to those in the Luzerne County Courthouse that he and others are fed up with the way they’ve been treated.

Michelle Boice, who’s interested in the movement but is not taking an active role in it, said living in Luzerne County hasn’t benefited her in any way.

“We’re self-sufficient. We don’t see any tangible difference whether we lived in Luzerne or Wyoming,” Boice, the wife of Harveys Lake Mayor Richard Boice, said. But she wants to learn more about the details, especially how it will impact her taxes and how any new assessments would be handled.

“There has to be an advantage for us. If there’s not, then what’s the point, to shift our money from Luzerne to Wyoming?” Boice said.

Kelly agrees that the point is to help relieve the tax burden, which he believes would happen if the borough became part of Wyoming County. He said such a move -- or the threat to do it -- would send a clear to message that residents need to be heard.

Kelly said the Luzerne County reassessment – the first since 1965 – hit residents of the 6.4-square-mile borough hard. Some individual property values, when adjusting for the 40-year gap between assessments, have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled.

Assessed property values in Harveys Lake as a whole increased about 205 percent, or about $518 million – more than tripling its assessed value -- after the reassessment.

Boice said residents are angry, some are “terrified” but most are outraged at the way the reassessment and subsequent appeals hearings have been handled, costing residents time and money to fix mistakes that should have never been made. Lawn signs and posters throughout the borough refer to the assessment and plead with residents to protest the reassessment and county officials to investigate it.

Kelly said that anger spurred some residents around the lake to begin discussing their disappointment with the assessments and how the county handled the aftermath, and some frank conversations were held.

King’s College professor of history and geography Paul Zbiek said the idea is creative and may work. “I’m sure there’s anger behind it too, but there’s certainly logic to it, too.”

The idea of seceding and joining neighboring Wyoming County was proposed, and Kelly said he agreed to look into the process.

Luzerne County Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said nobody from the borough has contacted him about the matter but said he can’t see what the residents would gain by seceding.

“A property’s value is its value. It doesn’t matter what county it’s in,” Urban said. “I don’t think you can get a better deal in Wyoming County.”

In fact, it’s unclear how the borough’s properties would be handled from an assessment standpoint if such secession were to happen. Wyoming County was last assessed in 1984.

Questions include: Would Harveys Lake be reassessed by Wyoming County using the 1984 guidelines? Would a new assessment take place based on 2008 data? Would Wyoming County accept Luzerne County’s reassessment figures?

As an interesting side note, the company that Wyoming County contracts with to do its assessments is 21st Century Appraisals – the same firm that Luzerne County paid $8 million to conduct its reassessment.

Wyoming County Commissioner Anthony Litwin said he has not investigated the matter, because he has not been contacted by any Harveys Lake residents about the secession possibility. He said he’s “not encouraging it” but doesn’t oppose it.

“We wouldn’t throw our hands up and say ‘no’ to them,” Litwin said. “I think it would be great for the county picking up the extra tax base. I don’t see how it would be a burden for Wyoming County.”

Boice agreed with Litwin, saying Wyoming County would benefit from acquiring Harveys Lake and its 3,000 residents.

“Who wouldn’t want us? Here’s our money and we’ll see you next year,” Boice said.

Though the idea of secession in itself isn’t unique, leaving one Pennsylvania county for another seems to be. While some boroughs and townships have broken away from larger townships in recent years, a municipality leaving an established county to join another established county is another story, one that hasn’t been written yet in the state annals, apparently.

When counties were being formed, portions of large counties broke off into smaller counties, which is how Wyoming, Susquehanna and Lackawanna were created when they broke away from Luzerne. Luzerne itself was formed in 1786 from part of Northumberland County.

But municipalities leaving counties, “We’re not aware of an earlier instance of municipalities changing counties,” said Janel Miller, spokeswoman with the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Whether it can be done, Miller didn’t have an answer.

State Rep. Karen Boback, who serves Harveys Lake and portions of Luzerne and Wyoming counties, said Kelly asked her to look into the legalities. She said she couldn’t find anything on topic.

Kelly said he believes a referendum posed to and passed by voters in Harveys Lake and perhaps, approval by the state legislature, is all that would be needed to make it happen. Having that question on the ballot this November is a goal Kelly said he’s shooting for.

If it makes it, lifelong Harveys Lake resident Sandra Serhan said she’d vote in favor of seceding.

Urban said he’s “not concerned” about the movement. He said that as the assessment appeals process moves along and home values are corrected or adjusted, the hubbub will settle down. He said he thinks the secession idea will blow over.

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Property Reassessment

Group eyes leaving Luzerne, joining Wyoming County

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